World of Warcraft: Cataclysm brings the excitement of a new expansion to much of the game and provides some exciting and engaging high-level content. If your account has lapsed, Cataclysm makes it worth the renewal cost. The expansion content raises the bar and re-establishes Blizzard as the reigning king of traditional MMORPGs.

Saying this game looks nearly photorealistic is no understatement, as throughout most of the race, it could pass as just that.

Everyone deserves the opportunity to go into this game cold. Stop reading reviews. Stop watching trailers. Play The Last of Us: Part 2.

Perhaps the best RTS I have ever played, despite the fact that the source material bores me to tears.

It has its rough edges and may not be as polished as it could've been. If you're a gung-ho shooter fanatic, it might not be as intense as you had hoped it might be. But I was too busy crawling through vents, picking through networks, and slipping unseen against the background to notice.

In the end, Fallout 3 feels like a Fallout game, and that is absolutely the highest compliment. Despite the changes, much of the charm and fun of the franchise remains intact, and despite the similarities to Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, I never felt that I was playing anything but a Fallout game.

The replayability of Ultramix 2 is immense, with content downloads and Xbox Live player.

I'm shocked with just how good Aliens: Dark Descent ended up being, and I could hardly put it down from the moment I loaded it up. It clearly respects the Aliens franchise, but it uses the elements in a way that is in service to the gameplay rather than as mere fan service for the player. Its gameplay is not only incredibly fresh compared to the other games of the franchise, but it's also so well executed that it stands as a high point among real-time tactical games, let alone for an Aliens game. Out of the franchise's entire history of games, there are only three games notable for how uniquely good they are; Aliens: Dark Descent is one of them.

If you're not sold on Ikaruga, then you probably aren't hardcore enough for it. Even if you are hardcore enough for it, you'll be chewed up, spit out, and left out to dry.

Grand Theft Auto IV's caricatured slice of urban Americana is a criminal masterpiece.

The new game has applied a generous amount of polish to the things that it carried forward, and the new modes, such as Braking Point and the two-player career mode, add some appreciable entertainment to a solid racing game. It is equally enjoyable to an F1 nut as to someone who is entering the sport fandom, and I have been having a great time whenever I fire it up for a few laps.

Onslaught alone makes this game a must by for all the fans out there. If you are an online gamer and looking for the very best death match game out there today, there is no better, more polished game out there.

Bandfuse is easily the most successful approach to learning how to play a guitar, but it's also damn fun for guitarists of all skill levels.

Ghost of Tsushima brought me epic joy, which is a special thing to find in the bottomless library of experiences out there. I'm deliberately leaving out the description of a moment in the game during the second act that is probably one of the dopest sequences I've ever seen. I don't want to spoil it. I'd rather you see it for yourself, either by playing or seeing it on the internet later. When the credits rolled after the final scene, I felt like I was in a movie theater and ready to applaud. I got to binge-watch and play the samurai story of my dreams. For anyone else who's ever picked up a long, empty wrapping-paper tube, held it with two hands a few inches apart, and swung it like a samurai, I have good news: We found it. We've got our game.

As a game in the traditional sense, Rocksmith is barely there; it's essentially a practice aid combined with a rudimentary teacher. However, it is one that works quite well and is fully capable of letting you learn at your own pace - right up to the point where you could easily plug your guitar into a conventional amp and play a song unassisted.

I'm playing the 360 version, and it's as if this control pad was designed from the ground up to be nearly worthless for this kind of game. There are a handful of other games that have highlighted the 360 controller's awful d-pad, but most of them are using it as a quick-select menu or something. When you're actually trying to input something like a dragon punch motion or any of the EX attacks, it's worse than useless. There is no point in buying SFIV unless you're going to drop the extra money for a better controller.

The title is by far the best single-player experience yet on the PlayStation 3 and certainly one of the finest on any platform this year.

The title is simply more of the same, but it's been polished to the point that it would be difficult to make it any more modern without losing the franchise's strong core. It might be off-putting that the campaign only centers around one race, but in spite of that, the game is a surprisingly full experience.

The title adapts to mouse and keyboard controls flawlessly, handles multiplayer better than the original, and it retains the same level of quality that made the game such a smash hit with its initial release on the Xbox 360.

It offers an incredible story in a medium that is still struggling to elicit a wide range of emotions from its audience, and the authenticity and attention to detail cannot be rivaled by another other game.

It's a wilder side of Forza where you're free to tackle Australia in whatever way you feel is the most enjoyable, and it gives you all the tools you need to make the experience yours. I've always enjoyed the Motorsport side of the track, but Horizon 3 is where you go to have flat-out fun while still sharing the series' strong racing pedigree.

In the end, I can't shake how captivating the chemistry among the characters was in God of War: Ragnarok. I probably laughed and got misty-eyed more times in the first few hours of playing this than I did for the whole first game. Plenty of heavy themes are tackled here other than life and death: alcoholism, abusive relationships, codependency, depression, emotional breakthroughs, true father-and-son bonding, manipulation, etc. You could call this game God of War: Families, Amirite? I've deliberately been vague about many of the key plot points, funny exchanges and gut-punch moments because I think people need to experience them for themselves. I probably already said too much regarding the bears, but they left an impact. The rest of God of War: Ragnarok will make quite an impression as well, and perhaps provide lessons that can outlive us all.

It is proven that if you give Disgaea 2 a bit of your time, it can swallow your life. Submit to its will.

The PC version of Ghost of Tsushima is simply the definitive version of a game that was already stellar when it landed on the PlayStation 4. It can't help but be gorgeous at just about every turn, and gripes about the sameness aside, the gameplay is extremely well polished. Games like this only exist when absolutely everyone involved pour a lot of passion into it, and it continues to be one of my favorites with this excellent PC port. Whether you prefer a controller or a keyboard and mouse, and whether you like the idea of sneaking around or of shouting your challenge to any Mongol who dares to cross you, Ghost of Tsushima delivers a memorable experience.

The moves in the game look magnificent: crisp, clean and fast-paced. It's as if you are watching a movie rather than playing a game.

All of it is entertaining, and it gives you a sense that the island is little more than your plaything- a feeling that's only emphasized as your skills increase and you become a badass cross between Turok and Rambo. It's for that reason that Far Cry 3 comes across as a fresh experience and ranks up there as one of the best shooters of 2012.

If you want to buy a good arcade stick or one of the SFIV-compatible control pads coming out for the game, then Street Fighter IV is a lot of fun.

LoC puts each and every mech simulator ever made to shame. If you have ever fantasized what it really would be like to pilot a hulking mountain of metal and weaponry there is no doubt that Steel Battalion: Line of Contact is as close to that fantasy as anything can get.